it's a word that kids understand and that's what going on in the early grades in that conversation. >> you can watch this entire debate online at c-span.org/history. simply search for daniel allen or mark bowerline at the top of the page. >> on may 31st, 1921 tensions over the arrest of young black man for his interactions with a white woman led to an armed mob of white men marching on the predominantly african-american greenwood district in tulsa, oklahoma. over the next day neighborhood was burn to the ground and hundreds of african-americans were killed. next on american history t national park service chief historian lowe talks about the events of those two days followed by author caroline randal williams on her family's history and legacy of slavery in the south.

>> good afternoon, and i'm very excited and honored to be asked to prepare a presentation for this very important commemoration of 100th anniversary of the tulsa massacre. i'm going to get started this afternoon just giving you some background on a perspective on the national park service perspective towards race and reconciliation which we commemorate, which we interpret and which we research through national parks and programs. i always like to start off by giving a little background about the national park service. we are the federal agency that is authorized and given the responsibility to preserve the history and stories, national

stories of the united states, we were founded in 1916, we currently have 12 regions. 423 national parks in our unit and in our stewardship right now there are more proposed to be added to the national system. most of you know the large parks such as yellowstone or the grand canyon but most of our parks are actually in urban areas. every person, a citizen of the united states, the average citizen is only 50 miles from a park service. so, yes, you know, probably about our grand national parks, but our urban parks such as douglas and martin luther king, jr., center a lot of folks don't recognize those as being part of our national park system.

we have two community assistant programs. these are programs where we assist communities, individuals to preserve and protect their own historic resources and to tell their own historic stories. some of our programs that you may be familiar with are the national register and national historic landmarks program. the african-american civil rights network which is one of the newest programs and i will expand upon that later in this presentation as well as our various granting programs such as our african-american civil rights grants which give moneys to local state, local, federal government, preservation organizations and stewards in order to undertake historic preservation or preserve culture resources or tell their stories

within the communities. the parks service has over 21,000 employees and volunteers that work with us and we usually have around 320 million individuals visitors come through our parks. .. .. to the process of reconciliation their first has to be an act or multiple

acts. there has to be some type of acknowledgment and act has occurred. and on the part of the defendant there has to be forgiveness. but on the part of the offender there has to be at repentance, true and committed repentance. in order to be reconciled you must have forgiveness, you must have repentance. we also have to have the mutual duty of restoration. how do you move forward in a unified matter from the grace of forgiveness and the commitment to get restoration we build trust in unity and thinking about that i'm going to take you through a few of the national park units in

this process, have not reached it yet as a country. but there are sites where we talk about both the act of forgiveness and repentance and restoration. so first i want to talk about the active offense. and i chose to focus on racial violence. you see here on my left it is the newest it was designated as the site of the assassination. and continuing fight to bring those who murdered her husband to justice. against those who were seeking

justice the humanity of african americans and the violence has been perpetuated against these acts of violence often led to progress. in 1964 the civil rights act was passed partly to the assassination and 63. on the left there is the massacre. the site of the massacre of more than 250 cheyenne and arapahoe nation peoples. on november 29, 1864 by the united states army

contingent. the park with authorize in 2005 and 2007. and so we recognize this as a massacre sites. it was not until after the military of the united states government did an investigation of the military action that was perpetuated on the unarmed group and found that there is military reason for the peaceful people. they may come to the reckoning. what happens when a people are pushed to the limit during the time of racial oppression. how do we protect themselves. or how do they respond to the

racial violence that is being perpetuated against. we talk about these moments of reckoning. the two i would like to highlight two is little big horn battlefield national monument. most of you probably know this this is custer's last stand this is also called the greasy grass just a few years after the massacre. the same massacre was perpetuated against indigenous people that had agreed to give up their claim to land and have settled and land that was provided by the united states government. the battle of little big horn occurred between those

cheyenne, dakota and arapahoe that had not accepted reservation. they were filled with defending and protecting their homeland in the great plains. it was not until, the park was originally designated in the 1890s i believe. the name of the site was custer's last stand. custard battlefield national monument. the interpretation told about the destruction of custer's regiment the 209 soldiers that died. it did not interpret the perspective of the indigenous people who are being pushed off of their land. it was not until 1991 that congress determined of the

national park site to talk about the northern plains indian of their own land as well as that military action by custer and his men. and most of you are familiar probably with harper theory national historic park. of course this is the site of john brown's attempted raid on the national armory that was located there. these pictures are of the john brown fort where he and his raters attempted to hold up over the three days the action took place at harpers ferry. that top picture is the fort. the focus in several different locations. it was removed from its original site five times over

the course of its lifespan. here is on the campus of a historical black college founded in 1867 by missionaries to educate newly freed african-americans. and it was the college that save the johnson brown fort and brought it back to harpers ferry. he was in chicago, illinois. prior to the harpers valley national park being desecrated. on the bottom edge the fort today replacing the lower town of harper's ferry in its original location.

>> they have held john brown's descendents as well as many of you may know led by several prominent african-americans, met at harper's ferry for their second meeting. the first meeting on the u.s. side of the border, the first meeting was in niagara falls, canada due to threats that were leveled against them for bearing to talk about what it looks like to have equality and civil rights within the united states. so reconciliation. >> i content all national

parks as a public spaces are brave spaces to talk about -- to talk about the violence. to talk about the oppression. to acknowledge, to commit to repentance. and to work towards restoration. i would let the park i would like to highlight national historic site. it was one of ten war relocation camps that was used to house japanese-americans during world war ii. more than 11000 japanese americans were interned from 1942 through 1945 when they were returned to their

community. the parks is a pilgrimage site for many of those who were interned as well as their descendents. in 1969 the organization was established so there's an annual meeting of descendents allies and for internees to return to the site and pay respects and remember. and commit to future justice for asian americans. as well as to the broader community. conducted over 460 interviews with former incarcerated and government officials, military personnel that was involved in incarceration of the site as

well as the other ten relocation sites and detention facilities around the country to move forward to a restoration of relationship. another i would like to highlight is from montgomery historic trail. which of course is from selma to montgomery alabama. during the jubilee celebration commemoration of the walk from selma to montgomery courthouse , we brought together nearly 200 to do a five day journey re-creating the march, learning during that time, learning about the marchers themselves. we have some of the original marchers join us at the

march. it has created a community of cohorts of people of allies that are committed to moving forward with social justice, civil rights and voting rights. so most people are like i said familiar with the national parks. through our national programs are community assistance we are also looking towards acknowledging the past and moving towards reconciliation. one of our newest programs is the african-american civil rights network. it was passed in 2018 to look at commemorating civil rights. the reconciliation park was added to the network just last year june 29, 2020. we are looking forward to

continuing this partnership. they were added under the banner of being a facility as well as a program that looks towards interpreting african-american history, civil rights, the racial oppression and systemic racism. also looking towards reconciliation of those events towards education, interpretation and looking at the recovery of the greenwood area after the event as well as the concentrated efforts to ensure it remains. what are the arc's goals? the first goal is to simply make sure the american public and international community understand the importance of civil rights not only for the country but in individual

locales we talk about the civil rights movement as a national movement. it was a city by city, community by community. we also want to recognize the sacrifices by the people, the individuals that fought for equality and the relevance of civil rights to the movement today. it is an ongoing site as our current conditions allow with black lives matter and other debates that are going on around the country about education and where we are moving forward too. we have to make those threads, those connections. we accomplish our goals by providing the network first about which is a list of the sites, programs and facilities that tells the civil rights

story. we reviewed the studies that have been done on the national level to see if there is additional information we need to include. we produce educational materials such as you see on the left the era of reconstruction theme which looks at it should be preserved and protected through national register and national historic landmark program. it tells the story of african-american civil rights. and as you saw on the slide before we have created a program logo that is used by official members of the network to develop their partnership with the national park service and federal government to tell the story of african-american civil rights. to be eligible you have to be a property, facility or program as i mentioned before. he have to have it verifiable connection to the civil rights movement. if you're coming in as a

property, which only have to be eligible under one of the categories, you do have to be listed in the national register or determined eligible by the historic preservation office for the national register. we do require owner permission. we cannot list a site, our company laws are strong. for national park service grants to have additional criteria and has to span between 1939 in 1968. if you see that picture of the lorraine motel one of our few sites that came to the network as a property, facility and program. it is the site of mlk's assassination.

but also for the civil rights museum the national civil rights museum as the motels for research and interpretation. so i just want to quickly put in the two programs that myself and two of our direct programs staff that work on a ccr. we will be having a workshop on teaching skills to apply them directly apply to aa crn in late june. if you are interested, i highly urge you to contact myself or one of the program staff there. we will ensure that you or your organization are invited to the workshop. and jesse i don't know if you could click the link there, this is a short video introducing the new

superintendent for the evers home/monument. the videos and introductory video, introducing a new superintendent for the national home monument. she is the first miscue not graham for the site. the site is not currently open but they are seeking engagement by the public to determine how to interpret the site. we are definitely in partnership with the institute as well as to the college to ensure we are telling the full story of evers and their efforts to bring voting rights and civil rights to mississippi and there it

national impact on the 1964 civil rights movement. not just focus on the racial violence and they fascination of mr. evers we are focusing on their life. on the work they both did in order to bring about meaningful change within the community and in the world. through their legacy. so thank you so much for allowing me too talk with you for a few minutes. and thank you again. >> those national park service chief historian on the recent massacre in 1921 the neighborhood known as black wall street was burned to the ground and hundreds of african americans were killed. next, on american history tv from the tolls at race massacre symposium author carolyn randall williams assures her family history and the legacy of slavery in the south. >> i am so honored to be with you all